The collection of fifteen stories under the title of Dubliners was James Joyce's first published work in prose. Previously he had issued a book of verse, Chamber Music. These initial efforts were followed by A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Modern Library No. 145), the play Exiles, the modern epic Ulysses (Modern Library Giant G-52) and finally, Finnegans Wake. The tales in Dubliners are related to Joyce's later work both in locale and in many of the characters who have a fuller development in Ulysses. By themselves these tales, written by Joyce in his early twenties, are a distinguished contribution to the literature of the short story and are an augury of the master work which was to follow.